Mixed messages and fears for the future

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This article was published 24/01/2024 (654 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

International students in Manitoba say they’re concerned by the federal government’s promise to limit the number of undergraduate study permits over the next two years.

While the details are murky about how each province will be affected by the change — which would result in granting 360,000 permits in 2024, a 35 per cent reduction from last year — Immigration Minister Marc Miller said Monday the reduction was an effort to target institutional “bad actors” charging international students exorbitant tuition fees while providing a poor standard of education.

Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Monday the change could “alleviate” skyrocketing house prices in areas with large numbers of international students.

International students who attend the University of Winnipeg say they find answers to their questions about the situation difficult to come by.

U of W Students’ Association president Tomiris Kaliyeva and vice-president of student affairs Christine Quiah — both international students — don’t know how the change will impact people coming to Manitoba.

“Honestly, it’s very uncertain right now. I was, at first, a bit scared and concerned, because I hate uncertainty, but I feel like in Manitoba, no one knows what it exactly means,” Kaliyeva, an education student from Kazakhstan, said Tuesday.

Both she and Quiah said the decision points to an unfair contradiction faced by international students in the province and countrywide, where students feel like “cash cows” unfairly blamed for Manitoba’s economic issues while simultaneously enhancing its economy.

“It just feels really unfair as international students, because what do you guys want? At first, you guys want more international students, that’s how the economy is floating most of the time. And then suddenly, you start blaming us for every other problem you guys have,” said Quiah, a student of conflict resolution studies from Bangladesh.

Quiah said many of the students she’s spoken with aren’t the ones buying up housing — and as they struggle to find meaningful work within the limits placed on them by Canadian law, they’re often forced to resort to subpar living conditions.

“The way I’ve seen international students live, I don’t think anybody (else) really lives like that,” she said.

“It will be a small house, maybe there’s four bedrooms, and five or more people are living in that house, using the living room as the bedroom. International students are the ones who are cramping and finding houses which aren’t even safe to begin with.”

Other students said the cap will be just another hoop international students have to jump through to be able to study in Manitoba.

“Being an international student in Manitoba, in Canada, it’s already been hard, just from being with having to take full-time classes, and also having to provide for yourself, housing, food and other aspects, paying your bills has already been hard,” said Guzoronna Obi, a U of W student who arrived from Nigeria to study economics in 2021.

“They always say they’re trying to make it easier for international students, but with the laws that they put in place, and the regulations that they hold against us, it makes it harder for us to study while being in this country.”

While most Manitoba institutions have said it’s too early to tell how the change will impact their students, the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) called the decision a “hasty one-size-fits-all solution” that could have long-standing impacts on international students’ contributions to the country’s economy and culture.

“Canada’s (international education) sector is neither oblivious, indifferent nor naive about the challenges. However, if the national understanding of the value of (international education) erodes over immediate concerns about housing or health care, we all lose over the long term,” a CBIE statement reads.

“As they implement these new measures, CBIE urges the federal and provincial governments to carefully consider what is at stake when assigning the announced allocations to designated learning institutions.”

Some, like University of Manitoba political science student Ivan Nunez Gamez, fear another long-term consequence could be a rise in bigotry influenced by Canada’s unwelcoming treatment of international students.

“I am very, very sure this will fuel xenophobia. I think we already live in a very divided country, just considering the state of our economy, considering the housing crisis and whatnot. And a lot of that hatred, and a lot of that disappointment, is being routed toward immigrants,” said Gamez, who is from Honduras. “And when you see all the immigrant (groups), the most vulnerable are international students. So a big target is on the backs of international students now.”

As of November, there were 16,745 temporary residents with study permits in Manitoba.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca